it seems Notre Dame is or has moved to full Natural Gas, that makes the railroad obselete.Probably the switch done due to new EPA rules. Reports saying there hasnt been any activity at the coal transload near the NJI&I roundhouse. It seems coal is or about done at Notre Dame.

From what I've heard, the boilers at NDU can burn either coal or natural gas and the university uses whatever is cheapest at the time.

Les

Les Beckman

Post subject: Re: Notre Dame Railroad

Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 6:03 pm

Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:25 pmPosts: 5545

Les Beckman wrote:

According to THE SECOND DIESEL SPOTTERS GUIDE, between 1941 and 1948, Porter built 29 of these standard gauge 65-tonners along with 12 in narrow gauge. I have no idea how many besides ND&W 5332 still exist out there. Any info on other survivors would be appreciated.

Les

I put this note out in this thread back in November of 2013, over 16 months ago, and have heard nothing back. Then when checking the internet yesterday, I found this photo:

Atlanta, Stone Mountain & Lithonia Railroad #6 sure looks like one of the other Porter standard gauge 65-tonners, the first photo of a sister engine to ND&W 5332 that I have seen. When Mr. Wilkie took this photo back in May of 1958 in Seattle, Washington, the engine was described as "on way to Alaska". Where did it go, and is it still in existence? Anyone have any info?

Thanks.

Les

Les Beckman

Post subject: Re: Notre Dame Railroad

Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 8:35 pm

Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:25 pmPosts: 5545

We've been working on ND&W #5332 at Hoosier Valley, mostly trying to solve the wiring problem riddle. It was a dismal day today at HVRM with temps in the 40's and a cold rain much of the day. One bright spot however, was the move, under her own power, of the Porter out of the Shop! First photo shows her sitting outside the Shop before engineer Joe Kingsbury moved her back in, while the second shot shows her backing from the East Annex into the original Shop section. More to do, but getting there!

I don't know if the second crane is still at Notre Dame or not. I guess I could ask around about it and get back to you, but perhaps someone else might be able to come up with the answer sooner.

Les

John -

I talked to the HVRM member that lives in South Bend and he tells me that the crane (and the last remaining hopper car) are no longer on the Notre Dame property and believes them to have been scrapped.

Les

Last edited by Les Beckman on Mon May 04, 2015 5:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

QJdriver

Post subject: Re: Notre Dame Railroad

Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2015 6:35 pm

Joined: Sun Sep 05, 2004 9:48 amPosts: 571Location: Byers, Colorado

As one Porter owner to another, a big CONGRATULATIONS to the Hoosier Valley RR Museum on getting their Porter diesel to function !!! I could tell you a story about one that doesn't, after a fortune was spent on purchase, trucking, and repairs, too. Your guys didn't even have a schematic.

Funny how that totally clicks with my suspicions earlier in this thread:

p51 wrote:

Plenty of wheeled vehicles that wound up in the Navy in WW2 actually were accepted by the Army and later passed on to Navy or USMC handling. For example, my 1944 Willys Jeep was used by the Navy in WW2, yet it has US Army acceptance markings on the data plates.So, it could have been a Navy locomotive and could also be listed somewhere as accepted by the Army from the manufacturer, at an Ordnance depot somewhere.

_________________Lee Bishop

dinwitty

Post subject: Re: Notre Dame Railroad

Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2017 1:30 pm

Joined: Wed Oct 22, 2008 8:18 pmPosts: 2226

someone is asking a question on another forum...

Quote:

Was the bell stolen from the ND&W locomotive at some point? Or put away for safekeeping? I was going back over these photos and noticed that steam locomotive type bell disappeared.

HVRM has both bells that were on the Porter when it was in service on the Notre Dame & Western in South Bend. The first photo below shows the hood mounted bell that was apparently what was furnished by the folks at Porter when the unit was built. The second photo is a close up of the Illinois Central stamped number (1115) on the top of the steam locomotive bell that the folks at Notre Dame added to the unit. The steam locomotive bell was not stolen. Please put that rumor to rest!

I'll forward your response, very cool. It looks like it has a steam whistle on it as well, or an air whistle?

Les Beckman

Post subject: Re: Notre Dame Railroad

Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2017 3:32 pm

Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:25 pmPosts: 5545

dinwitty wrote:

I'll forward your response, very cool. It looks like it has a steam whistle on it as well, or an air whistle?

It's a steam whistle supposedly off of a Baltimore & Ohio locomotive, but there are no markings on it as far as I could tell, earmarking it to a particular engine. The ND&W ran it off of the air line of course.

Les

Les Beckman

Post subject: Re: Notre Dame Railroad

Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 5:31 pm

Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:25 pmPosts: 5545

OLCO107 wrote:

Some, if not most of the extra 'jewelry' on the locomotive was acquired by the late Brother Borromeo [Thomas Malley] CSC. He was quite the railfan, in spite of his religious order policy of poverty. Bro. Borromeo was Superintendent of Utilities, including the ND&W, and the 50 year Chief of the Notre Dame Fire Department.He was a long time director at Hesston, and a frequent visitor to the locomotive cabs.

I was doing a bit of on-line research on our 65 ton center cab Porter (s/n 7391, built in 1942) and discovered a couple of interesting things. First of all, the markers that adorn the top four corners of the cab were apparently not an added feature, but came from the Porter plant! I have found a couple of other photos taken of this type diesel when new with markers in the same location as on ND&W #5332, and also a photo of one of the narrow gauge units with the four markers out on the corner ends of the two hoods! These units were mostly built for the U.S. Army or Navy and when resold to other parties, these markers probably were redundant and removed. Fortunately, this didn't happen with the Notre Dame unit, and Brother Borromeo probably was responsible for their preservation.

Secondly, is the Baltimore & Ohio steam whistle. This is obviously an added piece of "jewelry", but what surprised me is the smaller whistle that can be seen in the photo of Atlanta, Stone Mountain & Lithonia number 6 seen previously in this thread, as it sits in 1958 before supposedly being shipped to Alaska. That is a "peanut" whistle, and from other photos of these units when new, I can't see any signs of roof mounted horns. Could these units have been furnished to the Army and/or Navy (or other original customers) with some type of air line whistle, instead of horns? Did Porter do this? Did other locomotive builders? Obviously the one on the Porter was not "gutsy" enough and the unit received the B&O whistle.

Learning something new every day!

Les

Les Beckman

Post subject: Re: Notre Dame Railroad

Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 5:01 pm

Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:25 pmPosts: 5545

Haven't had a report on Hoosier Valley's ex-ND&W Porter diesel in a bit, so thought I'd include a bit of info. Members of the HVRM crew HAVE been working on ND&W # 5332 at times. Here are some recent photos of progress.

Badly patches of rust have been cut out and new pieces welded in and the unit has also had old paint and surface rust removed as shown in the first photo of Joe Kingsbury working at it. Rich Warner has been doing much of the welding patches. As this work progresses, the unit has been getting primer paint applied and the second photo shows Kevin Kennedy one afternoon showing off the primer he had applied in the morning.

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